Sanguineous
by tofuucat
Summary: Sanguineous: san·guin·e·ous - (săng-gwĭn′ē-əs) adj. 1. Relating to or involving blood. 2. Having the color of blood; blood-red. Four boys drawn together by the crimson and gold banners of Gryffindor. Four boys sworn to each other; Blood brothers. The Marauders. Written for NaNoWriMo 2015
1. Chapter 1

CHAPTER ONE

REMUS LUPIN WALKED from the brick wall of Platform nine and three-fourths and inserted himself into the human chain—at least, mostly human. You couldn't be too sure _who_ was _what_ while a resident of a wizarding society. So, Remus brought himself away from his neighbor in march, and forced his feet in front of each other.

 _Kings Cross hasn't changed,_ he observed, trying to keep himself calm, _another static point_. Remus supposed that static points were good; books said so. At least, the clichéd self-help books that Remus had searched through in Muggle libraries said so (Was he hoping to find one titled "How to deal with the fact that you're a monster"?). However, he couldn't be too sure when his life was an obnoxious cluster of repetition. Honestly- how could he not be bored of it? There was only so much of his own gloominess that Remus could take.

Remus quickly halted this train of thought when he'd come to find that it was his turn to board the Hogwarts Express (A groan from a student behind him—"Hurry up!"). Reaching one shakey foot up at a time, Remus brought himself onto the heightened train and his luggage—a scuffed leather satchel with too many charms placed on it—followed behind him with a slight thump.

Remus held in a grimace; finding a seat on the train was terrible. _Is The Hogwarts Express charmed to only make enough seats for each student_ , he thinks, _or am I_ very _bad at finding a spot._ He supposed it was the latter, but the school did know ahead of time how many students were enrolled, so Remus was slightly doubtful.

 _Thump, thump, thump._ The sounds of the hundreds of students boarding behind him were nearly enough to cripple Remus to his knees. Since his first year at Hogwarts, the thought of being _so close_ to so many innocent people at once caused a constant tremble in his heart and twitches to his fingers.

 _"_ _Hurry, hurry."_ Remus began walking faster and faster towards the end of the train, becoming more and more frantic for a solitary compartment. His heart rate became rapid and soft at once and Remus vaguely thought of a hummingbird residing in his chest—of course, after a moment Remus decided he was undeserving of something so docile.

Remus brought these thoughts away from his mind, not that they were very comprehensible at the moment, and focused once again on his mission through his sweaty, twitching palms and fraught mind. Looking back, perhaps Remus would've sworn that _this_ was why he was allowed to be left in his isolation. However, his own mind was clouded by blind anxiety, and short breaths—wild as if he were currently blowing up hundreds of balloons—left him far too exhausted to care about anything currently but being alone, so he allowed it. Remus encouraged it, even.

Through a haze of vividly indescribable motion, Remus briefly allowed a saving thought to cross his mind: _The compartments near the end._

Of course, this wasn't his most genius moment- most everyone knew that the train filled from front to back due to the overly eager students anticipating the Welcoming Feast. Even the I'm-too-cool-for-Dumbledore-and-his-most-unprofessional-antics fraction of Slytherins adored the Welcoming Feast.

So, Remus half stumbled and half walked towards the end of the Hogwarts  
Express in deep, deep need of refuge.

Upon arriving to the end of the lengthy train, Remus nearly bowed to his knees for forgiveness; he must've done something wrong recently. Were werewolves considered as beings so unworthy of such a simple favor as an empty compartment? _Probably_ , Remus thought, _I apologize very sincerely, dear gods._ Remus rushed out an apology to every muggle and wizarding deity he could think of, _I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry,_ as if it would cause the people around him to suddenly disapparate to somewhere far from him, or—even better—make Remus _normal_.

So, Remus lingered in front of a compartment with only two people inside of it—both that didn't look quite as approachable as he would've liked despite their matching robes—and brought a shaky hand up to slide open the compartment door. Of course, not without a soft chain of knocks.

"May I sit here?" Remus's voice came out near a whimper, and his head faced downwards to avoid eye contact with the people of the compartment.

WORD COUNT: 725

I'm kind of nervous, because I'm not too sure if Remus with social anxiety will be something alot of people will enjoy, but I really like the idea that before the Marauders met, Remus was a lone-wolf (heh) and had alot of anxiety towards harming people that he was eventually able to rid himself of.

Btw, it may seem like it with this short chapter (I've never been great at writing long chapters, but I'm trying!) that it's Remus- centric, but the story isn't! It's going to involve all of the boys and their own afflictions.

I'll have the other half of my daily goal (1,725 words) up tonight, too.


	2. Chapter 2

REMUS, UPPON BEING allowed entrance by a boy with deep brown eyes and dark, unruly hair, sat in the corner closest to the sliding door of the compartment. He reached into his battered satchel and pulled out a book to immerse himself into.

After a quiet moment, an unfamiliar voice spoke: "What're you reading?"

Remus paused at the slightly condescending tone, and looked upwards to find the source. It was a boy, seated in the window seat across from him and next to the other who had welcomed him in, with growing obsidian curls hanging in front of his strongly structured face.

Looking to the cover of his book, Remus mumbled, "It's a muggle classic; tragedy, really."

The boy with curled hair sat up at the mention of their nonmagical counterparts, "Yeah? How so?"

"W-Well," Remus began, his voice slightly growing stronger in the other boy's enthusiasm, "It's about a pair of feuding families and their heir's poor attempt at eloping. Honestly, half of the people involved die due to an event of tragic miscommunication; it's horrid."

The boy with shaggy hair's brows scrunch together and his head tilts slightly, "If it's horrid, then why do you read it?"

Remus bit his lip and halted for a moment, "I think that, um, it's important to read and gather information about different cultures through their classic literature; even if it's a little ridiculous."

The boy with curly hair nodded at this, "I'm Sirius, by the way."

In response to Sirius's introduction, the shaggy haired boy grinned, "I'm James; James Potter."

Remus looked blankly at James and Sirius, not quite realizing the silent queue to introduce himself as well. Both Sirius and James slightly shuffled in their seats at the awkward halt in conversation, and Remus unknowing began to trace shapes onto the cover of his book.

"You are..." Sirius hinted.

"Oh." Remus dumbly gawked, "I'm sorry; Remus Lupin."

Thankfully, the trolly-lady had knocked on the flimsy door and distracted the boys from Remus's awkwardness. A muffled, elderly voice could be heard as she slid open the door, "Anything from the trolly?"

All of the boys perked at the woman's presence, but Sirius and James much more notably. Both of the boys began listing off titles of various candies as they pooled their money together, excited for sweets. Upon their finish, the trolly lady looked expectantly towards Remus.

"A chocolate frog, please."

Sirius scoffed, "That's all?"

"U-um," Remus reddened as he grasped the Sickle he had retrieved through James and Sirius's excitement. Sirius, now seeing the currency Remus held, shared a glance with James.

"Ten," James spouted, "He wants ten chocolate frogs." Then, before Remus could even attempt protest that _He didn't have that kind of money, thank you very much,_ James and Sirius gave the trolly woman their money and she went onwards to other compartments.

"There you go," Sirius plopped the pile of chocolate frogs onto Remus, "All ten of them."

"I-I really don't need all of this, and you _really_ didn't have to pay for me."

James rolled his eyes an spoke through a mouthful of goo, "As if one teeny chocolate frog could satisfy anyone."

Remus extended his arm out to the pair of boys, Sickle in hand and head down, "Here."

They both shooed his hand away, and Sirius snorted and James spoke, "Like one sickle could pay for ten chocolate frogs," he laughed more to himself, "That's like buying a broom with a Knut."

Remus, now red from both embarrassment and anger scowled at him, "I will repay you in full later."

Again, Sirius waved his hand at the Sickle as James let out a lame "Nahhhh."

Though angry at the pompous reply, Remus was grateful. "T-Thank you, then, I'll still be sure to pay you back."

"It's only chocolate."

Word count:638

MY CHAPTERS ARE WAY TOO SHORT IM SORRY.  
however, i have data now so i can update.  
idk how this is going, & ik remus is much less anxious than before, but i think talking about books made him more comfortable & the fact there was less people noticeable would help ease anxiety.


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